1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to animal control and, more particularly, to a crowd gate for use in a milking parlor and, most particularly, to a counterweighted, crowd gate suspended from a carriage supported above a holding area adjacent the milking parlor.
2. Background Information
Modern dairy farming operations that involve the handling of relatively large dairy herds must be managed with a minimum of manpower in order to maximize their profitability. A major development in dairy farm operation is the use of milking parlors, which permit one man to handle the milking of several animals at a time. In order to expedite the movement of the animals into and through the milking parlor, a holding area is employed to which several cows are admitted and from which they enter the milking parlor under the control of the operator.
One or two balky cows in the holding area can delay the operation. Consequently, crowd gates have been developed, which move from the entrance end of the holding area to the exit end at the milking parlor. The operator controls the movement of the crowd gate to urge the cattle in the holding area and then into the milking parlor. Patents that show crowd gates in dairy farm operation include the following.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,691,359, Anstiss et al. disclose a movable fence section for a corral. The movable fence section rests on wheels that contact the ground, and the fence section is moved by cables and pulleys operated by hand. An electrified wire (41) extends from one face of the fence section for prodding the animals as the fence section travels forward to reduce the size of the corral holding the animals.
Fullerton et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,115, describe a gate for crowding animals toward the exit of a runway that has parallel side walls and a floor. The gate extends downwardly from a frame extending across the runway. A motor on the frame drives flanged wheels, engaging rails mounted on the side walls. Counterweights are on the frame near the wheels for increasing the frictional grip of the wheels on the rails. The gate has a floor scraper that is mounted so as to be movable up and down and swing about a horizontal axis relative to the gate and a curved plate mounted to move with the scraper to swing the scraper away from the floor when it encounters debris on the floor, during movement toward the exit. Limit switches are provided to halt the motor when the gate reaches the end of its desired travel in either direction.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,741, Thompson et al. disclose a crowd gate for urging animals, for example, cows, toward a desired position as, for example, a milking parlor. The crowd gate includes a carriage, which is adapted to ride on an overhead track and which swingably mounts a depending gate which may come into contact with an animal standing on a surface underlying the rails. A motor is operative to drive the carriage and, thus, the gate along the rails until such time as the gate encounters an animal, at which time the motor is de-energized for a predetermined time. After the time has elapsed, the motor is again energized until an animal is again engaged. The system also includes a pair of cables for elevating the gate and for reversing the carriage motors so that the carriage in the gate may be returned to a starting position.
Flocchini, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,599, describes an animal corral for the prodding movement of livestock from an animal receiving station to an animal processing station. The pen includes paired, parallel, elongated pen sides, extending between a livestock receiving station at one end and a livestock processing station at the other end. A gate is typically mounted to move between the sides from the livestock receiving station to the livestock processing station. A continuous loop of reeving, running the full length of the corral sides, drives the moveable gate on both sides, where it is adjacent to the paired, elongate corral sides. The loop is powered by a driving mechanism, which includes a specialized transmission. This transmission provides power for the ordinary unobstructed movement of the gate and acts to sense when the gate encounters resistance to forward motion, such as that resistance provided by contacting recalcitrant livestock within the pen. The sensing of the motor is accomplished by a power-sensing means, which connects to appropriate circuitry to interrupt the forward movement of the fence for a preselected interval of time. At the end of this interval of time, forward sweeping movement of the gate recommences. Through sequential stop and start movements of the gate, prodding of the livestock within the pen from the animal receiving station to the animal processing station occurs. The invention relates to livestock corrals for sweeping animals from a receiving station to a processing station.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,586, Sweeney et al. disclose a carriage mounted, horizontally pivoted, crowd gate for a milking parlor holding area in which cattle are admitted through an entry end of the holding area, which is opposite the exit to the milking parlor. An overhead cable, which is connected to the top of the gate for moving the gate from end to end of the holding area, carries a lifting cable, which is secured to the drive cable a short distance from the gate toward the entry end, and which is secured to the bottom of the gate. By blocking the carriage while continuing to operate the drive cable toward the entry end, the lifting cable is pulled to swing the gate up on its pivots, after which a lug on the cable strikes a limit switch to stop the gate drive. Opposite movement of the drive cable slacks the lifting cable so the gate returns to vertical position.
Goossen, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,714, describes a training and crowd gate for urging animals to move through a passageway. The training and crowd gate includes an overhead track which extends along the passageway and a carriage movably suspended from the track. A cross arm is mounted on the carriage and a plurality of flexible electrical conductors hang downwardly from spaced points on the cross arm to form a barrier across the passageway. An audible signal, a conductor charger and a carriage drive unit are carried on the carriage. A control at an operator's station, remote from the crowd gate, simultaneously energizes the audible signal means and carriage drive unit and further connects the conductor charger to a source of electrical energy. By repeating the movement of the charged barrier in the presence of an audible signal, the animals are trained to associate the audible signal with the movement of the barrier in a charged state and, subsequently, move through the passageway ahead of the barrier even without a charge on the conductors.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,460, Stencil discloses a crowd gate for use in herding animals from an entry end of a holding area to the exit end of a holding area. A pivoting gate is suspended from the wheeled carriage into the holding area and moves along tracks above the holding area. The suspended gate herds the animals in the area before it. The gate is responsive to animal contact to stop movement of the carriage, with the gate being used in association with gate raising means, operative to raise the gate to a horizontal position for return of the carriage to the entry end of the herding area over the heads of incoming animals. A substantially counterbalanced pivoting, spring biased gate is mounted so that it hangs forward in the direction the animals are to be herded, rather than perpendicular to the floor of the holding area. The first contact of the gate is an edge contact of the gate with the legs of the animals being herded. The resistance to pivoting of the gate acting as a goading means, together with a simple mechanical means for raising and securing the counterbalanced gate in a horizontal position during return of such carriage to the point of beginning. The mechanical means includes gate raising slides mounted on the rear of the gate. Stationary rollers are operative to contact the gate raising slides on rearward travel of the carriage, thereby urging the gate into a horizontal position, where the gate is secured by strikers mounted on the carriage. The gate is then lowered to the goading position at the entrance end of the holding area so a further herding cycle can be effected.
Lareva, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,141, describes a crowd gate, suspended pivotally from an overhead carriage driven along a track above a herding area from an entry to an exit by an endless chain slidably coupled to the carriage. The central portion of a lift chain is connected at a bottom end to the bottom of the gate and on its top end to the drive chain. The lift chain is arrested by a hanger as the carriage moves toward the entrance, allowing the drive chain to continue travel, resulting in the lift chain being drawn upwardly to draw the gate upwardly to clear a path. This allows a group of animals at the entrance to then be herded toward the exit as the gate is advanced by the drive chain toward the exit. A lost motion device may be incorporated to permit the gate, upon contacting an animal in the herding area, to pivot rearwardly relative to the carriage to prevent damage to the gate. In one embodiment, the gate is electrified to give a goading shock to animals.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,615, Hoppman et al. disclose a roll-up crowd gate having an electrically charged drum that is rotatable in a carriage. Long cables connected to the drum are also electrically charged. A rope translates the carriage in tracks between upstream and downstream locations. Translation of the carriage in the downstream direction, when the cables are unrolled from the drum, urges a first herd of cows to the downstream location. Carriage stops in the tracks stop carriage translation at the downstream location, but continued operation of the rope when the carriage is against the stop causes the drum to roll up the cables. Reverse operation of the rope translates the carriage above the first herd to the upstream location. A carriage stop at the upstream location stops carriage translation, but continued operation of the rope rotates the drum and unrolls the cables behind a second herd of cows.
Sprik, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,951, describes a livestock feeder with a top gate, a bottom gate, and a center gate disposed between the top gate and the bottom gate. The top gate, the bottom gate, and the center gate define a gate system. The bottom gate can swing inward when the feed is eaten. Then after the livestock eat the feed when the gate is swung inward, the gate can be “reset” to the vertical position, and then the gate system can be moved closer to the feed. A device for horizontal movement is present on the gate system whereby the gate system can move in a horizontal direction when movement of the device for horizontal movement is initiated. A device for initiating horizontal movement includes a hand crank. The device is used in a covered environment similar to a pole barn. The size can vary depending on the livestock herd, the property, and the feed. A sloped floor helps prevent waste accumulation where the livestock feed.
Applicant has devised a counterweighted, crowd gate device that overcomes many of the shortcomings of the above-described crowd gate inventions